Systems and Methods for an Improved Electronic Table Game

ABSTRACT

Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a gaming device including a display adapted to provide a dealer representation to a player at a player position, a sensor adapted to sense at least one of a location and an orientation of the player at the player position, and a processor adapted to generate the dealer representation to interact with the player based at least in part on the sensed at least one of the location and the orientation.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to, and claims the benefit of, ProvisionalApplication No. 60/865,279, filed on Nov. 10, 2006, and entitled“Systems and Methods for an Improved Electronic Table Game.” Theforegoing application is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[Not Applicable]

MICROFICHE/COPYRIGHT REFERENCE

[Not Applicable]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to table games. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods foran improved electronic table game.

Gaming machines, including electronic table games, such as electronicblackjack, poker, or roulette, offer popular, exciting, andsophisticated wagering activities at casinos and other gamblinglocations.

Current automated or electronic table games feature one or severaldisplays which display the cards during the play of the game as well asa video representation of a dealer. For example, Shuffle Master, Inc. ofLas Vegas, Nev. has a Table Master™ product which includes a largedisplay to display the virtual dealer as well as five player terminals,each including a separate display and player inputs (to control theaction) to play a game of Blackjack. FIG. 4 illustrates a currentelectronic table game system with a video representation of a dealer.

These current games have only limited ability to interact with playersat the table. For example, games may be pre-programmed to have the videodealer gesture or “look” in the general direction of a seating positionat a table, whether a player is located there or not, or to provideother generic video and audio outputs.

In addition, current systems have limited ability to react verbally to aplayer. Typically, only a set number of actions are available and thoseactions are linked to the player pressing a button.

Further, current systems provide only a single, pre-determined dealerappearance for a player. Players cannot select a particular dealer orappearance, for example.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a gaming deviceincluding a display adapted to provide a dealer representation to aplayer at a player position, a sensor adapted to sense at least one of alocation and an orientation of the player at the player position, and aprocessor adapted to generate the dealer representation to interact withthe player based at least in part on the sensed at least one of thelocation and the orientation.

Additional embodiments may include an interface with a player trackingsystem host computer by, for example, the player inserting a player cardin a card reader at their player position at the table. The gamingdevice, through access to the host computer would “know” the player'sname and enunciate it while interacting with the player. The playercould also, at the host computer for example when they enlist in theplayer loyalty program, include preferences as to their name or nicknameto be used at the table and dealer interaction characteristics, e.g.,the dealer is to be formal or familiar with the player.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic gaming table according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a casino gaming system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram for a method for electronic gamingaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a current electronic table game system with a videorepresentation of a dealer.

FIG. 5 illustrates a front perspective view of an electronic gamingtable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofcertain embodiments of the present invention, will be better understoodwhen read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the invention, certain embodiments are shown in thedrawings. It should be understood, however, that the present inventionis not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in theattached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic gaming table 100 according to anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 illustrates a frontperspective view of the electronic gaming table 100 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The electronic gaming table 100includes a display 110, at least one player position 120, a processor130, and a player sensor 140. The player sensor 140 may include oroperate in cooperation with a player loyalty card reader 141 associatedwith each player position 120 and adapted to read a player loyalty card(e.g., through a magnetic stripe or smart card chip). Card readers 141are known in the art. The player sensor 140 may include or operate inconnection with an optical or other electromagnetic sensor 143 to sensethat a player is occupying a player position.

The card readers 141 may be connected through a network to a playerloyalty host computer 145 which stores data corresponding to a playeraccount for each registered player. The stored data may of the typeknown in the art such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,647, issuedJun. 2, 1998 to Boushy. In addition to personal information, andaccording to the present invention, at or sometime after registrationwith the casino loyalty program, the player may include data related tohow the virtual dealer(s) will interact with the player. For example theplayer may desire to use a nickname, to have dealer interact in afamiliar or friendly manner or in a formal manner.

As shown in FIG. 5, associated with each player position is a playerterminal 147 which is in communication with the processor 130. Eachplayer terminal 147 includes a display as well as an input device 149such as a keyboard, buttons, or the like. The input device 149 may be atouch screen associated with the display, for example. Each terminal 147may be in communication with the casino slot accounting system as wellas is known in the art.

A player at the terminal 147 can view and control the action. Forexample, for the game of Blackjack, the cards distributed to each playerare displayed at the terminal 147 display. Through the input device 149the player can enter prompts to control the action of the game such asstand, take a hit, double, surrender, split their hand, as is knownaccording to the rules of Blackjack.

At the terminal 147 the player can enter their wagers as well.

In another embodiment, the cards for all player's hands may be displayedat the main display 110, for example, is an area below or around thevirtual dealer 151.

In certain embodiments, the gaming table 100 includes an action sensor150. In certain embodiments, the action sensor 150 is incorporated inand/or utilizes the player sensor 140. Action sensor 150 may be a videocamera to scan an area of the table and may provide additional orsubstitute data. For example, the action sensor 150 may be used for theplayer to input action such as by sweeping their hand to indicate theywant to take an additional card. It should be understood that the actionsensor 150 may be dispensed with where action is controlled by playerinput at the terminals 147.

The display 110, the player sensor 140, terminal 147, and the actionsensor 150, if present, are in communication with the processor 130.

In operation, the display 110 provides a representation of a virtualdealer to the players. Each player may be positioned at a playerposition 120. For example, a player may be seated at the player position120. As another example, the player may be standing at the playerposition 120.

The display 110 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathoderay tube (CRT) display, a projector and screen, a thin-air display, acomputer monitor, and/or a television, for example.

The representation of the dealer is controlled by the processor 130. Forexample, the processor 130 may generate the representation of the dealerusing two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional graphics to be displayedon the display 110. As another example, the processor 130 may playvarious pre-recorded videos or video segments to represent the dealer.As another example, the processor 130 may dynamically manipulate storedgraphics and/or video to provide the dealer representation. As anotherexample, the dealer representation may include a hologram.

In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 100 is adapted toallow a player(s) to select a dealer representation. For example, aplayer may choose from a library of dealer representations. A player mayselect a dealer of a particular gender, hair color, and/or eye color,for example.

In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 100 is adapted toallow a player to select a celebrity as a dealer representation. Forexample, a player may select a movie star or sports personality as thedealer.

In certain embodiments, each player may select a dealer representationthat they see at their own player position 120. That is, each player atthe electronic gaming table 100 may select a different dealerrepresentation, independent of dealer representations selected by otherplayers. For example, there may be a common virtual dealer 151 at thedisplay 110 with individual dealers, selected for example by eachplayer, shown at the player's terminal 147.

The player sensor 140 is adapted to sense a player at a player position120. For example, the player sensor 140 may sense the position and/ororientation of a player. The player sensor 140 may include a camera,electromagnetic sensor or a combination thereof, for example. As anotherexample, the player sensor 140 may include one or more of an eyetracker, camera, and/or laser scanner.

The processor 130 may determine a position and/or orientation of theplayer based on data from the player sensor 140. For example, theprocessor 130 may process signals generated by the player sensor 140based on data sensed by the player sensor 140. In certain embodiments,the player sensor 140 is adapted to determine the position and/ororientation and provide that to the processor 130. As an example of anembodiment, the camera may be an infrared camera which senses the shape,position and orientation of the player and sends the signals to theprocessor 130. The signals are processed at the processor 130, as by,for example, comparing the signals to a “best match” of a library ofimages. Based upon the best match the processor 130 can control theinteraction of the virtual dealer 151 as it interacts with the players.

In certain embodiments, the player sensor 140 is adapted to sense aportion of the body of a player. The player sensor 140 may be adapted todetermine the position and/or orientation of a portion of the body ofthe player, for example. For example, the player sensor 140 maydetermine the direction a player's head is turned by using a camera andimage processing software. As another example, the player sensor 140 maydetermine where a player is looking by tracking the player's eye. Asanother example, the player sensor 140 may sense the relative shape ofthe player's eye and the relative position of the player's pupil. Theplayer sensor 140 may then communicate that information to the processor130 to determine the position and/or orientation of the player's eye.Further, the processor 130 may determine which direction the player islooking based at least in part on the determined position and/ororientation of the player's eye.

Based on the detected portion of the player, the dealer representationprovided by the display 110 may be adjusted to interact with the player.For example, when dealing, the processor 130 may generate the dealerrepresentation to look the player in the eyes, or more particularly, thedealer representation may be depicted to look at the point in spacedetected to be the location of the player's eyes. As another example,the processor 130 may adjust a video of the dealer representation toappear to deal a card toward the player's hand.

As mentioned above, in certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table100 includes an action sensor 150. The action sensor 150 is adapted toprocess input from a player. The input may be verbal or non-verbal. Incertain embodiments, the action sensor 150 may utilize the processor 110to process input from a player.

In certain embodiments, the action sensor 150 includes an aural inputdevice such as a microphone. When a player speaks, the action sensor 150may process the player's speech to determine if the player is speakingto the gaming table 100 or the dealer representation on the display 110.For example, the dealer representation may include a nametag. The actionsensor 150 may detect speech directed to the gaming table 100 when aplayer begins speaking and uses the name on the nametag, for example.

In certain embodiments, the action sensor 150 includes one or morevisual input devices such as a camera, eye tracker, infrared sensor,ultrasound, or laser scanner. The camera may be adapted to detectphysical actions by the player. For example, the action sensor 150 maydetect and interpret the motion of the player's hand to determine aplayer has requested another card in a blackjack game by tapping thetable. The camera may be used in cooperation with a microphone in theaction sensor 150 to assist in determining whether a player is speakingto the gaming table 100, for example.

In certain embodiments, the action sensor 150 includes electromagneticand/or radio-frequency tracking sensors. The action sensor 150 may trackan item on the user including an RFID, ring, watch, and/or bracelet, forexample.

In certain embodiments, the action sensor 150 may detect sign languagefrom a player. In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 100is adapted to provide a dealer representation that communicates usingsign language.

Similar to the player sensor 140 discussed above, the action sensor 150may sense input from the user and the processor 130 may be adapted todetermine whether the player has performed an action.

The gaming table 100 may include a speaker so that the gaming table 100may respond audibly to input from a player. For example, the player mayask the virtual dealer 151 for an additional card, to which the dealerrepresentation may respond by dealing another card and speaking itsvalue. As another example, the player may signal the dealerrepresentation for an additional card with a hand gesture, to which thedealer representation may respond by providing a new card and speakingthe new total hand value for the player. As another example, the playermay order a drink through the electronic gaming table 100, which mayrepeat back the order to verify it is correct.

In certain embodiments, the gaming table 100 may respond to the playeraudibly using voice synthesis. In certain embodiments, the lips of thedealer representation move in synch with the audible response, as if thedealer representation was the source of the response.

In certain embodiments, the player sensor 140 is adapted to identify aplayer. For example, the player sensor 140 may include a biometricsensor. The biometric sensor may be adapted to acquire a biometriccharacteristic of the player, such as a fingerprint, iris pattern, orfacial pattern. The player's identity may be determined by comparing thedata sensed by the biometric sensor with player information stored in adatabase, for example. As another example, a player's identity may bedetermined by a player card or other identifying article, for example.The player card may include a magnetic strip to be read by card reader141, bar code, and/or radio-frequency identifier (RFID), for example.

In certain embodiments, the gaming table 100 is in communication with aplayer tracking system. The player tracking system may collect data forpurposes of accounting, monitoring and security, and player tracking,for example. The player tracking system may be configured to track datasuch as player activity, player win, casino or other gamingestablishment activity, for example.

In certain embodiments, the player tracking system may be used todetermine player profiles. This profile information may include favoritegames of a player, player configuration and/or setting options, theplayer's typical wager for a particular game, gaming session time, timeof day when the player plays, and the player's wins and losses, forexample. Player profile information may be used to suggest, offer,include and/or exclude players from certain propositions, for example.The gaming table 100 may utilize the player tracking system to storeplayer preferences regarding virtual dealer 151 representationappearance, language, and behavior. In addition, the gaming table 100may utilize the player tracking system in detecting and/or interpretingplayer input such as a drink order or particular pronunciation of a wordor gesture. For example, the player tracking system may include dataregarding prior interactions to help train the gaming table 100.

The profile associated with the player may be determined based at leastin part on the identity of the player. For example, the player may beidentified as discussed above. In certain embodiments, a profile for aplayer may be stored on a player card. That is, the player card maystore a profile for the player for later retrieval and use.

In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 100 is adapted tosupport operation over a network. For example, the gaming table 100 maydownload a game over a network. As another example, the gaming table 100may communicate with a player tracking system over a network, similar tothe player tracking system discussed above.

In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 100 is adapted tosupport more than one language. For example, the electronic gaming table100 may support interaction in English and French. The processor 130and/or the action sensor 150 may be adapted to process verbal input froma player using voice recognition software or artificial intelligence,for example. In addition, the electronic gaming table 100 may audiblyrespond to player input in the same language the input was received, forexample.

FIG. 2 illustrates a casino gaming system 200 according to an embodimentof the present invention. The casino gaming system 200 includes one ormore electronic gaming tables 210 and an application server 220. Theelectronic gaming tables 210 may be similar to the electronic gamingtable 100, described above, for example.

The electronic gaming tables are in communication with the applicationserver 220.

In operation, the electronic gaming tables 210 may generate the virtualdealer 151 representations to display to one or more players. The dealerrepresentations may be similar to the dealer representations discussedabove, for example.

The players may interact with the electronic gaming tables 210 to, forexample, play a game. For example, an electronic gaming table 210 maysense the position and/or orientation of a portion of the body of aplayer. The electronic gaming table 210 may then interact with theplayer based on the sensed position and/or orientation. For example, aplayer may order a drink through the electronic gaming table 210. Asanother example, a player may make a hand gesture to receive anothercard in the game from the electronic gaming table 210.

In certain embodiments, the electronic gaming table 210 is adapted toidentify the player. For example, the electronic gaming table 210 mayacquire a biometric characteristic of the player to identify the player.As another example, the electronic gaming table 210 may identify theplayer based on a player card or room number.

The application server 220 may include a player tracking system. Theplayer tracking system may be similar to the player tracking systemdiscussed above, for example.

The player tracking system may include a profile for a player. Forexample, the profile may include favorite games of a player, playerconfiguration options, his/her typical wager, gaming session time, timeof day when the player plays, and the player's wins and losses, forexample. Player profile information may be used to suggest, offer,include and/or exclude players from certain propositions, for example.The electronic gaming table 210 may utilize the player tracking systemto store player preferences regarding dealer representation appearance,language, and behavior. In addition, the electronic gaming table 210 mayutilize the player tracking system in detecting and/or interpretingplayer input such as a drink order or particular pronunciation of a wordor gesture. For example, the player tracking system may include dataregarding prior interactions to help train the electronic gaming table210.

In certain embodiments, the application server 220 provides content toan electronic gaming table 210. For example, the application server 220may provide downloadable game content to an electronic gaming table 210.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram for a method 300 for electronic gamingaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The method 300includes the following steps, which will be described below in moredetail. At step 310, a player is sensed at a player position. At step320, a body part of the player is sensed. At step 330, the positionand/or orientation of the sensed body part of the player is determined.At step 340, a dealer representation is generated based at least in parton the sensed player. At step 350, the dealer representation isdisplayed to the player. At step 360, an interaction is provided betweenthe dealer representation and the player. The method 300 is describedwith reference to elements of systems described above, but it should beunderstood that other implementations are possible.

At step 310, a player is sensed at a player position. The playerposition may be similar to the player position 120, discussed above, forexample. The position and/or orientation of the player may be sensed,for example. The player may be sensed using a player sensor similar tothe player sensor 140, described above, for example.

At step 320, a body part of the player is sensed. The body part may besensed based at least in part on the player sensed at step 310,described above, for example. The body part of the player may be theplayer's head, eyes, and/or hands, for example. The body part may besensed using a player sensor similar to the player sensor 140, describedabove, for example. For example, the player sensor may sense theorientation of the player's eyes. As another example, a hand or fingerof a player may be sensed.

At step 330, the position and/or orientation of the sensed body part ofthe player is determined. The position and/or orientation may bedetermined based at least in part on the body part of the player sensedat step 320, described above, for example. For example, based on datafrom the sensed body part of the player, the location of a player's eyesmay be determined. As another example, based on data from the sensedbody part of the player, the orientation of a player's hand may bedetermined.

The position and/or orientation may be determined by a processor similarto the processor 130, described above, for example. The position and/ororientation may be determined by a player sensor similar to the playersensor 140, described above, for example.

At step 340, a dealer representation is generated based at least in parton the sensed player. The dealer representation may be generated by aprocessor similar to the processor 130, described above, for example.The dealer representation may be generated based on the player sensed atstep 310, described above, for example. The dealer representation may begenerated based on the body part of the player sensed at step 320,described above, for example. For example, the dealer representation maybe generated to look into the player's eyes based on the determinedposition and/or orientation of the player's eyes.

At step 350, the dealer representation is displayed to the player. Thedealer representation may be displayed to the player using a displaysimilar to the display 110, described above, for example.

At step 360, an interaction is provided between the dealerrepresentation and the player. The interaction may be provided based atleast in part on the player sensed at step 310, described above, forexample. In certain embodiments, the interaction is based at least inpart on determined position and/or orientation of the sensed body part,as described above. For example, when dealing, the dealer representationmay look the player in the eyes, or more particularly, the dealerrepresentation may be depicted to look at the point in space detected tobe the location of the player's eyes. As another example, a video of thedealer representation may be generated to appear to deal a card towardthe player's hand.

In certain embodiments, the dealer representation may interact aurallywith player. In certain embodiments, the dealer representation mayinteract with the player using sign language.

In certain embodiments, the interaction is based at least in part on aprofile for the player. The profile may be similar to the profilediscussed above, for example.

One or more of the steps of the method 300 may be implemented alone orin combination in hardware, firmware, and/or as a set of instructions insoftware, for example. Certain embodiments may be provided as a set ofinstructions residing on a computer-readable medium, such as a memory,hard disk, DVD, or CD, for execution on a general purpose computer orother processing device.

Certain embodiments of the present invention may omit one or more ofthese steps and/or perform the steps in a different order than the orderlisted. For example, some steps may not be performed in certainembodiments of the present invention. As a further example, certainsteps may be performed in a different temporal order, includingsimultaneously, than listed above.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in software, firmware, and/orhardware, for example. For example, certain embodiments may beimplemented as a set of instructions or routines stored on amachine-readable medium, such as a CD, DVD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard disk,floppy disk, RAM, ROM, flash memory, and/or other medium, for executionon a computer and/or other processing device. Certain embodiments may beimplemented on a standalone gaming terminal, a bank of gaming terminals,a network of gaming terminals, and/or a client-server systemcommunicating with one or more gaming terminals and/or other devices,for example.

Thus, certain embodiments provide systems and methods for an improvedelectronic table game. Certain embodiments allow the electronic gamingtable to determine the position and/or orientation of a portion of aplayer's body. Certain embodiments allow the electronic gaming table toreceive voice input from a user and respond audibly. Certain embodimentsallow customized dealer interaction with a player. For example, certainembodiments allow a player to select a particular dealer appearance.Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a technical effectof improved electronic table gaming. Certain embodiments provide atechnical effect of determining the position and/or orientation of aplayer and/or a part of a player's body. Certain embodiments provide atechnical effect of aural interaction between a player and a dealer.Certain embodiments provide a technical effect of player interactionwith a dealer.

While the invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to theparticular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include allembodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A gaming device, including: a display adapted to provide a virtualdealer representation to a player at a player position; a sensor adaptedto sense at least one of a location and an orientation of the player atthe player position; and a processor adapted to generate the virtualdealer representation to interact with the player based at least in parton the sensed at least one of the location and the orientation.
 2. Thegaming device of claim 1, wherein the virtual dealer representation isbased at least in part on a selection by the player.
 3. The gamingdevice of claim 1, wherein the virtual dealer representation is arepresentation of a celebrity.
 4. The gaming device of claim 1, furtherincluding a display for each of a plurality of players.
 5. The gamingdevice of claim 4, wherein each display is adapted to provide a virtualdealer representation to the corresponding player in the plurality ofplayers, wherein each virtual dealer representation is based at least inpart on a selection by the corresponding player.
 6. The gaming device ofclaim 1, wherein the sensor is adapted to sense a portion of the body ofthe player.
 7. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the sensor isadapted to sense an eye of the player.
 8. The gaming device of claim 6,wherein the sensor is adapted to sense a hand of the player.
 9. Thegaming device of claim 6, wherein the processor is adapted to interpretthe sensed portion of the body of the player as part of a game.
 10. Thegaming device of claim 6, wherein the virtual dealer representationinteracts with the player using sign language.
 11. The gaming device ofclaim 1, further including an aural sensor to receive audible input fromthe player, wherein the processor is adapted to process the receivedaudible input.
 12. The gaming device of claim 11, wherein the receivedaudible input is processed using speech recognition.
 13. The gamingdevice of claim 11, wherein the processing includes determining whetherthe received audible input is directed to the gaming device.
 14. Thegaming device of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to acquire abiometric characteristic of the player to identify the player.
 15. Thegaming device of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to identifythe player based at least in part on a player card.
 16. The gamingdevice of claim 1, further including a speaker, wherein the virtualdealer representation interacts with the player using the speaker. 17.The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the interaction includes taking adrink order.
 18. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the processor isadapted to generate the virtual dealer representation to interact withthe player based at least in part on a profile for the player.
 19. Thegaming device of claim 18, wherein the processor is adapted to interfacewith a player tracking system, wherein the player tracking systemincludes the profile for the player.
 20. The gaming device of claim 18,wherein the profile is stored on a player card associated with theplayer.
 21. The gaming device of claim
 18. wherein the profile includesinformation on a drink preference of the player.
 22. The gaming deviceof claim 18, wherein the profile includes information on a virtualdealer representation preference of the player.
 23. The gaming device ofclaim 1, wherein the virtual dealer representation is adapted tointeract with the player in more than one language.
 24. The gamingdevice of claim 1, wherein the virtual dealer representation is providedto the player over a network.
 25. The gaming device of claim 1, whereinthe display includes a holographic display.
 26. The gaming device ofclaim 1, wherein the display includes a thin air display.
 27. A methodfor electronic gaming, the method including: sensing a player at aplayer location with respect to a gaming device; generating a virtualdealer representation based at least in part on the sensed player andthe player location; displaying the virtual dealer representation to theplayer based at least in part on the sensed player; and providinginteraction between the virtual dealer representation and the playerbased at least in part on the player location.
 28. The method of claim27, further including sensing a body part of the player at the playerlocation.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the virtual dealerrepresentation is generated based at least in part on the sensed bodypart.
 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the sensed body part is an eyeof the player.
 31. The method of claim 28, wherein the sensed body partis a hand of the player.
 32. The method of claim 27, further includingsensing an action by the player.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein theaction includes speech.
 34. The method of claim 32, wherein the actionincludes a hand gesture.
 35. The method of claim 32, wherein the actionis sign language.
 36. The method of claim 32, wherein the action is partof a game.
 37. The method of claim 32, further including determiningwhether the action is directed at the virtual dealer representation. 38.The method of claim 32, wherein the action is a drink order.
 39. Themethod of claim 32, wherein the virtual dealer representation isgenerated based at least in part on the sensed action.
 40. The method ofclaim 32, further including audibly responding to the sensed action. 41.The method of claim 40, wherein the response is a second language. 42.The method of claim 32, wherein the interaction is further based on aprofile for the sensed player.
 43. A casino gaming system, the systemincluding: an electronic gaming table, wherein the electronic gamingtable is adapted to sense a portion of a body of a player, and whereinthe electronic gaming table is adapted to generate a virtual dealerrepresentation based at least in part on the sensed portion of the bodyof the player and wherein the virtual dealer representation interactswith the player; and a player tracking system including a profile forthe player.
 44. The system of claim 43, wherein the electronic gamingtable is adapted to acquire a biometric characteristic of the player toidentify the player.
 45. The system of claim 43, wherein the electronicgaming table is adapted to identify the player based at least in part ona player card.
 46. The system of claim 43, wherein the profile includesinformation on a drink preference of the player.
 47. The system of claim43, wherein the profile includes information on a virtual dealerrepresentation preference of the player.